And so the sun has set on another year of creativity at the Croisette with its smorgasbord of awards, gaggle of celebrity speakers, and smattering of exclusive parties (goodbye to last year’s Twitter Beach and hello to this year’s TikTok garden).
We’re talking, of course, about The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – and 2023 marked the 70th anniversary of the awards.
The big themes that emerged this year?
Well, brand purpose remains firmly on marketers’ agendas as companies aim to strike the tricky balance between the efficacy of commerce and a higher reason for being.
Perhaps unexpectedly, generative AI also took up lots of the discussion as the creative industry wrapped its head around the rapid-fire democratisation of content creation – with the possibilities now available to us all in mere seconds.
Meanwhile ‘influencer activity’ is no longer a media plan bolt-on, as the creator economy has taken a seat at the top table, with talent partnerships at the very heart of brand strategies for the foreseeable.
But when all is said and done, it’s about the work produced. And the occasional coveted Lion. Some 26,992 entries were received this year (an increase of 6% from 2022).
Here are some of the award winners that caught our eye...